


The Ninth Human

by LunarWingLatias



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Evil Frisk, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Chara, Happy Ending, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Near Genocide Ending, Undertale Alternatvie Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2018-11-21 04:16:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11349681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarWingLatias/pseuds/LunarWingLatias
Summary: The Underground is in ruins and the few monsters that remain are in sorrow over the loss of their king and the fall of their heroes. The last human that came to the Underground had slaughtered hundreds of innocent monsters, including anyone who could step up as the next ruler. On top of this, all of the human souls the monsters had collected to break the barrier disappeared.What will happen when another human falls into the Underground? Will they finish the other human's rampage or will they become the savior that the monsters desperately need?





	1. Another Child Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The humans, over centuries, have passed on tales of a cursed mountain, Mt. Ebott. It is said that the humans of old had once fought a great and terrible war against powerful creatures known as monsters. The humans would tell of how they were able to win the war and conquer the vile creatures. Seven wizards were able to use a powerful form of magic to create a barrier that sealed the remaining monsters under the mountain. Overtime, the once real stories became nothing more than myth and fairytale. The mountain today still remains a forsaken one. It is said that the humans that attempted to climb the mountain never returned.

Even with these stories, there was a human who had started the long trek up the forsaken mountain. A child, no older than ten, with a small backpack over her shoulders, was nearing the peak. She climbed up with a sense of determination running through them. Though, she had to admit she was terrified. For years, her parents and just about every other adult they knew told her how dangerous the mountain was unstable and inhabited by wild animals. Others in her class would even say that is was the monsters from the old story that kill anyone they can find and eat them out of vengeance for what the humans had done to them.

The child wanted to do this because the tale of humans and monsters had always upset them every time she heard it. Her parents had always told them to always be kind to everyone. So, wouldn’t that extend to the monsters too? If they were real like the stories say, wouldn’t they feel lonely and abandoned under that mountain? The child always told her parents that she would climb Mt. Ebott one day and become friends with all of the monsters. Her mom and dad would always smile when she said it. But now- the child had nothing left holding her back.

She did their best to continue up the thin, winding trail. She would stumble occasionally and would trip over stray roots. At one point her foot caught on a small rock and she had to catch herself with her arm. The arm hit the ground hard and she felt a jolt of pain run through it. With a small whine she struggled back up to her feet again and continued forward. After about a half hour of walking the path melded away and was replaced by a more steep and rock climb. Most people would probably be able to clear it without too much difficulty. Unfortunately for the child, she only had one arm to climb with. She had been missing a right arm for as long as she could remember, probably since birth. She never really questioned it but it would sometimes annoy her at times like this. After about an hour of struggling she finally reached flat ground. 

The child had been climbing for most of the day and was exhausted. She laid on the ground for a while to relax catch her breath. After a few minutes she sat up and pulled the bag off her shoulders, taking out a water bottle and package fruit gummies. Once she was done she continued her hike. That is when she found the cave. 

It had an ominous, dark feeling to it that the child couldn't describe in words. It was huge and it seemed like the shadows inside swallowed all of the light that attempted to shine into it. It didn't help that that the rocks jutting from the ground and ceiling gave it an appearance of a mouth with sharp teeth. 

The child knew, however, that she could not turn back now. So, without any more hesitations, she stepped into the mouth of the cave. The cave was so dark that she almost couldn’t see her own hands. She tried to brush some of their curly, short, red hair away from her eyes in an attempt to see a little more clearly. What she saw next made her gasp.

A few feet in front of her was a figure. They were about the same height of the child and they were mostly transparent, though they had a faint red glow coming from them that lit up the walls around them. The ghost was wearing a striped sweater and had short hair with bangs. “W-who are you?”, the child asked. The ghost gave the child a sad smile and beckoned her towards them. The ghost then turned and began to move deeper into the cave. Rather than walk, they seemed to hover across the ground. They disappeared into the darkness.

“Wait! Don’t leave!”, the child cried. She began to sprint, hoping to catch up to them. Little did she know of the deep abyss in front of her. She tripped over a vine and tumbled into the void.


	2. Welcome To The Underground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The human begins their travels through the ruins.

The child screamed as she fell deeper and deeper, her life flashing before her eyes. She expected pain when she reached the bottom of this void, but it instead felt as though she landed on a bed of pillows, cushioning her fall. She had closed her eyes while she were falling but now slowly opened them to reveal that it had not been pillows, but rather a bush of small, yellow flowers. Her legs were wobbly, but she quickly jumped off the bush, feeling bad for having crushed some of these flowers.

She looked around to see walls of solid rock surrounding them. Off to the sides of the flowers was a small path that led further into the cavern. The child looked up to see nothing but deep shadows. Not knowing what else to do, she followed it.

There was a strange feeling that came over the child as she walked. It was as if the air itself was trying to choke and smother her. It was so eerily quiet in the tunnel that all the child could hear was her own footsteps and breathing. The child had the urge to call out and see if there was someone, anyone, who happened to be hiding in these catacombs, but felt that it would disturb _something_.

She eventually made it to a grand entrance staircase that led to a large doorway. At the top of the stairs was the red ghost. The ghost once again beckoned her to follow and disappeared. “Please don’t go! What is this place?!” The child cried as she rushed up the steps. 

She ran down corridor after corridor. The ghost would occasionally appear but the moment the child seemed to reach them they disappeared. Hoping to catch them, the child kept running. There appeared to be a lot of disabled puzzles and things as she went which rose a lot of questions for the child. Another thing that confused the child was strange piles of white powder everywhere. She did not go anywhere near them however, because for some reason it made her sad to even look at it. She did not know _why_.

When the child was finally starting to get out of breath she heard a sound that shook her to her very soul. A moan was echoing down the corridor. It sounded as if someone was crying. 

_Who is that? Is someone down here? Why are they upset? Do they need help? Did something bad happen? What if they are dangerous? What if they are a monster like in the stories? What if they try to hurt me?_

All of these thoughts were extinguished after another sob reached the child. With a small hesitation she slowly moved closer to the sound. They peered around the corner and was surprised by what she saw.

In the center of the next room, laying on a bed of red leaves, was another ghost. However, this one looked a lot different from the red child she had been following. They gave off a white, almost blueish, glow that seemed to cast a little more light than the child. They were also shaped like a ghost that one might expect a child to draw for Halloween decorations, a round sheet with eyes.

The little ghost let out another quiet sob, tear drops streaming across their face. The child, unsure of what she should do, approached cautiously. Once she was about a foot away she quietly cleared her throat. “Um… Excuse me… Are you ok?”

The ghost quickly sat up in surprise, letting out a small gasp. They were facing away from the child, too shy to look at them right away. They tried to wipe up the tears from their face. “Oh… I’m sorry… Oh no.... I did not mean to worry anyone… Oh no… I didn’t think anyone was still living in The Ruins…” 

“Is that what that place is called? There were more people here?”

“Oh… I’m sorry… I thought everyone knew about that… I should not have assumed...”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The ghost slowly turned to look at the child and they sprung into the air, seeming to be in complete terror. There was a long eerie silence and when the ghost began to speak again their voice seemed to stutter even more than it already had. The child could see that the ghost was trembling.

“O-oh no… W-what do I d-do?... Th-this can’t happen a-again… N-not again…”

“What’s wrong? Are you scared of me? I don’t know what happened, but I want to help. Nobody deserves to be sad.”

The ghost completely ignored the child and continued mumbling to themself.

“Oh no… I-I need to tell them… Oh no… What if it’s too late?… W-what do I d-do?... Oh no…”

“Wait! Who is them?”

After a few more indistinguishable mumbles the ghost faded away and disappeared. The child had no idea what she should be thinking. It sounded like there were more ghosts, or creatures, that left, or disappeared. What did she have to do with it? The child had never met the ghost before yet they looked as if they had seen the most frightening thing in their life. Was there another human or child like them that came here before her?

This made the child even more confused. She seemed to be getting more questions than answers and no one seemed to want to talk to her. All she got from that conversation was that this place was apparently called The Ruins. With a huff the child stepped through the leaf pile and continued her walk. She had to find someone that would talk to them eventually. Right?

After a few more minutes she arrived at what appeared to be a small courtyard that led up to the entrance of a ominous looking house. At the very center of the courtyard was a dead tree. All of the leaves lay in a pile surrounding the it and the long, sharp branches reached all the way up to the ceiling of the cave wall.

The child looked back up towards the house and there, standing in front of the doorway, was the red ghost. The ghost waved and gave a small smile. Surprised the child slowly walked up to the ghost, in fear that they would just disappear again. This time, however, the ghost stayed in their spot at the doorway. If it was even possible, the ghost appeared even more solid than before.

The child was so stunned that the ghost finally didn’t run away that everything that she wanted to ask them vanished from her mind. Before the child could think of what to say the ghost gave a small chuckle.

“ _Howdy. My name is Chara. Welcome to the Underground._ ”


	3. Chara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn the ninth human's name and the reason Chara has led her to the Underground.

The child jumped back a little in alarm. She hadn’t expected the ghost to talk. The way their voice sounded was strange as well. Rather than sound like it was coming from the ghost, it was more like it was coming from her own head. The smile on the ghost’s face grew a little. _”What’s the matter? Froggit got your tongue?”_ The ghost chuckled again, covering their mouth with their hand.

“I-I’m sorry. It’s just… I’m a little confused.”

The ghost”s smile was suddenly wiped from their face, becoming serious and maybe a little sad. _”I guess you would be. The other humans were just as lost as you are now… including me. Though, the Underground wasn’t as bleak as it is now._

“Wait, there were more humans before me? W-what happened to them?” The child stammered, fearing what they would hear.

The ghost looked down to their feet. _”Well, there really isn’t any sense in hiding it and I might as well answer your questions now.”_ The ghost sighed. _”All of them, except for one have died. Some were killed, others… well… It doesn’t really matter now. The one human who escaped here, the one who came before you, killed a large majority of the monsters that used to live here. I do not remember much about any of the humans or their actions here since my memories seem to become jumbled every time another human falls, but what I do remember was that this human was different from others. You probably don’t know this, but monsters do exist and they are by far the most kind and loving people I’ve ever met. What the last human did was just cruel.”_.

The ghost took a trembling breath and wiped their sleeve over their face. After composing themselves, they looked up and gave a small smile as they held out their hand. _”So, I told you my name. Do you have one?_

The child was surprised by the sudden change in conversation. She had a feeling that their was more about Chara that they let on, but they knew it was probably best not to pressure them.

“My name is Wylie. It’s nice to meet you.”

She offered Chara a smile back and reached out to shake their hand. Surprisingly, their hand felt completely solid, despite being transparent. Chara gave another small chuckle.

 _”Well Wylie, it’s nice to meet you too.”_.

Without letting go of Wylie’s hand, Chara began to lead her to the entrance of the purple, brick building next to them. _”C’mon, we can talk more in mo- this monster’s house. We don’t really have to worry about bumping into anyone here, no other monsters live in the Ruins anymore.”_

Wylie stept into the house behind here and was a little surprised by how nice it was on the inside. Besides the fact that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from time, the house looked like any other human house.  Ahead of them, there was a staircase that led to a basement. To the right, there was a long hallway that led into other rooms. To the left there was a living room with a brick fireplace, bookcase, dining room table, and a cushioned reading chair. Wylie was still a little nervous about the house but Chara seemed to notice this and motioned her to the hallway. Together they checked the various rooms, started from the far end of the hallway. The first room was locked and had a sign posted that read it was under construction, the second appeared to be a simple bedroom with a large mattress, desk, and book case. Wylie saw a journal on the desk and wiped the layer of dust from it.  She had thought it would be more like a diary, but the the page it was opened to was filled to the edges with puns and knock knock jokes. They were all extremely good and she laughed at each one, Chara who was looking over her shoulder tried to cover the grin on their face, but was failing miserably. 

The third room looked like a bedroom for a young child. There was a small mattress with a toy chest overflowing with dolls and toy cars. By a small dresser there was a crayon drawing of a yellow flower, similar to what Wylie and fallen onto earlier, and on the dresser there was an old photo frame. Unfortunately, the only thing that could be made out of it was two tall figures in front of two much shorter ones. Wylie turned to see Chara staring at the photograph, eyes unfocused, somewhere else.

“Chara?”

The ghost startled out of whatever daydream they seemed to be having and looked over to Wylie.

_”Yeah?_

“Why did you lead me here, to the Underground?”

Chara looked down at their shoes. _”Well… It’s kind of a long story, but let’s just say that while I was alive the monsters were my friends… my family. They treated with more kindness and love than any human had ever shown me. I tried to make things right, to punish the humans for what they had done, but my plan inevitably failed and… well… I died. Whenever another human came to this mountain I tried to help them, so that maybe they would somehow be able to help the monsters in someway. But even these attempts were meaningless. Many of the humans weren’t able to see or even hear me, all I could do was watch. The last human, they couldn’t see me but they could hear what I said. I tried to help at first, but they acted strangely, almost robotically. They would kill any monster in their path without a single thought, there was nothing I could do. Their LV, or Level of Violence, eventually became so high that it started to affect my thoughts too, I became just as bloodthirsty as they had. If it weren’t for the few monsters they spared, we both would have fallen into a pit that we would have no chance of crawling out of.”_

Chara wiped off some stray tears from her face and continued, _“I led you here because you are different from all of the others that came before you. Your soul is unlike any others I have seen, hopeful. I thought that maybe if you couldn’t free the monsters, you would maybe be able to save them from themselves, give them the strength to continue with their lives.”_

After a pause, Chara looked up into Wylie’s eyes, new tears forming. _”Please… Will you help them?”_

Wylie could never imagine what this ghost had gone through, but she understood what it was like to lose family. She walked over to Chara and hugged her.

“Of course I’ll help! You’re my friend!”

Chara began to shake with sobs and hugged her back.

_“T-thank you.”_


	4. Into The Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wylie leaves the ruins.

After exploring the entire house, Wylie had been able to find unspoiled, yet stale, food to eat and pack into her backpack. She also changed into a nice green and blue striped sweater she found in one of the closets, which had been filled with striped sweaters of every imaginable color. Chara told her about how once she left the ruins, she would have to walk through a icy forest to reach the closest monster town. So, Wylie did her best to prepare for what she would have to face next. After a small nap Wylie and Chara descended the steps in the front room down towards a basement, which Chara mentioned would lead to the exit of the ruins.

Chara began to speak as they walked down the long, narrow tunnel.

_”When we leave the ruins you are going to have to be extremely careful. In fact, it might be best if you avoided the main road as much as possible.”_

“Why?”

_”Again, my memories are foggy… so I do not know if anyone will be patrolling the road anymore or anyone is still acting as the Royal Guard. The Royal Scientist also has cameras set up almost everywhere. That ghost you scared earlier may have also told someone about you already, they looked pretty spooked.”_

“Wait, if there is a Royal Guard and Scientist, is there a king?” 

_”There was. I do not know if anyone has replaced him.”_

There was a short moment of silence before Chara broke it again.

_”I also want you to know that you might not be able to see me once we leave the ruins. I’m not as connected to certain parts of the Underground. You should still be to hear me and I can still see everything that you see.”_

“O-ok.” This concerned Wylie a little. If something happened, or if Chara disappeared, she would be completely alone.

When they finally reached the end of the hall they came to stand in front of a large, stone door with a symbol carved deeply into it. It looked like a circle with wings with three small triangles beneath it. Chara smiled when they noticed that Wylie was looking at it.

_”That is the symbol of the monster kingdom. I think it used to have a different meaning before the monsters were sealed here but it has become a symbol of hope in the Underground, although some view it as a curse. It is said that an angel would descend to the Underground to free the monsters from this place forever. Some viewed that as the angel literally freeing them while others said the angel would be a demon that would ‘free them’ by destroying the Underground.”_

That definitely seemed to Wylie as a dark way to view a symbol of ‘hope’. But, in a way, that version of the tale almost became a reality. She really hoped that she would be able to come through with the promise she had made to help them.

They walked over to the door and Wylie began to push on it as hard as she could. It took a while, but the door finally creaked open, revealing a beautiful snow covered forest. Wylie gasped as she looked at the tall pine trees and glistening ice hanging from them. Snowflakes were silently floating through the air onto the thick powder-covered ground. She would question as to how it could snow under a mountain, but with all the magic she had seen that day, she figured it was best not to think about it too much.

Wylie turned to Chara. The ghost smiled and waved. 

_”See ‘ya later!”_ They than faded out and disappeared. 

With that, Wylie stepped out into the snow. Following Chara’s advice, she stayed in the trees, just off of the main road so that she wouldn’t get lost. The snow was thick on the ground and went up past her ankles. She really wished now that she hadn’t left for the mountain wearing shorts. Every once in awhile, Wylie would pass a small shack which must have been checkpoints of some kind. One of them, however, must have been a food stand because it was full with frozen bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish. Another thing that Wylie noticed were other solved puzzles along the path, just like in the Ruins. _Monsters must really like puzzles._

_”They do.”_

Wylie nearly fell over, not expecting to hear someone. She frantically looked around her and heard the same voice burst out laughing.

“Ha ha Chara. You scared me to death!”

_”Sorry. Your reaction was priceless.”_

Wylie grumbled a few indistinguishable words and continued through the trees, Chara trying to suppress laughter the whole way.

She walked for what felt like hours through trees and around the cliffs. The cold air was starting to get to her and it did not help that the gentle snow that was falling earlier was becoming more like a blizzard. The strong winds ripped angrily at her clothes and hair while the snow stabbed at her skin. Her eyelids began to droop and her body was starting to grow numb.

 _”Wylie, don’t fall asleep you need to keep going and find shelter before this storm gets any worse. You're almost there, you just need to cross this bridge up ahead.”_.

Wylie, being too worn out to speak, just nodded and trudged across the bridge, holding on for dear life every time the wind tried to knock her off. She managed to make it across but fell onto the ground. She struggled as she tried to push herself up again. Chara kept pushing her to keep going, trying their best to keep her from falling asleep. Wylie could see small lights twinkling in the distance, and with a final burst of energy, stood up and began to shuffle her way to the town.

The lights had been set up around a sign that read, “Snowdin Town”. If it weren’t for the circumstances, she probably would have laughed at the cleverness of the name. She began to feel desperate and realized her only chance was to find a house that was either empty or find a monster that would not try to kill her. She tried every door she passed, not bothering to knock. Each one was the same as the last, locked. All of the windows were dark.

By the time she reached the other end of the town she could barely feel her legs or hand anymore. She only had one house left to check.

It was probably the largest house in Snowdin. It was the only one with two stories. It was covered in Christmas lights, although many of them were burnt out. One of the mail boxes was empty, the other overflowing with papers. She stepped up to the porch and tried the door. It was locked.

Wylie felt the tears roll down her cheeks. _What do I do?_

_”Wylie! There is a shed over there! Hurry!_

She heard a soft banging noise and looked over to the right to see a small shed to the side of the house. It’s door was banging on its hinges from the wind. She almost cried out in joy and relief and went to the shed. The minute she closed the door she let the exhaustion take over and fell onto the wood floor. She let her eyes close.

 _”Wylie...can’t sleep...ne...sta...aw....”_ She fell asleep.

She didn’t know how long she was unconscious, but she awoke to a sound. She felt strange, terrified, even though she couldn’t think of any reason she should feel that way. That changed when she looked up towards the door. A faint sound of terror escaped her.

In front of her stood a skeleton monster with a menacing grimace spread across his face and a glowing blue eye.


	5. Sans The Skeleton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How will Sans react to another human in the underground?

When the skeleton took a step toward her, Wylie tried to push away from him but didn’t have the strength or energy left. She looked up to his glowing eye in pure terror. She could feel his anger in the air around them. He stopped just in front of her, face unchanging. He wore a blue hoodie and grey exercise shorts. Both of which were shredded and covered in stains. 

_Chara! Chara, please! What do I do?_

But nobody came.

_Chara…_

Tears once again came pouring down Wylie's face, but she didn’t look away from the monster.

“P-please… d-don’t hurt me. I j-just needed a place to s-stay… I don’t w-want to hurt anyone.” She tried to her best to keep the panic from her voice.

The skeleton looked at her for another moment and his seething hatred faltered. He looked away and sighed. All at once, the anger he held disappeared. Now he just looked tired. The smile he had slipped into a small frown. The one blue eye disappeared and two pale, white pupils appeared.

“heh… i wouldn’t be able to hurt you even if I tried,” the skeleton whispered. He bent down on his knees, taking off his hoodie. He carefully wrapped the over-sized jacket around her. Wylie flinched when he went to pick her up and he paused. “it’s alright kid… i’m just taking you to where it’s safe.” 

The skeleton went to pick her up again and this time she allowed it. She gasped when they stepped back into the howling wind. The skeleton struggled to carry her through it. It also didn’t help that he was short enough for the snow to trip him every step. Wylie than realized where they were going.

The skeleton stepped up the porch to the large house with the Christmas lights. She realized that was how he knew that she was there, it was his shed. He pulled out a set of keys from his hoodie pocket, unlocked the door, and carried her inside.

The house inside was dark and quiet. It had a strange ominous feeling to it, like it had once been a friendly and happy place, but it wasn’t any longer. It was very simple looking on the inside with very little furniture. There was a kitchen across from the door and in the living room there was a dining table, couch, and television set. Off on the far left of the room there was a staircase that led to a second floor balcony. Wylie wasn’t able to see what rooms were up there, if there were any.

The skeleton walked her over to the couch and set her down. He seemed exhausted. He was quietly gasping for air and she could see what looked like sweat coming down his face. He wiped it with his sleeve. 

“don’t go anywhere,” he said. “i’m going to go grab some blankets”.

With this he disappeared up the stairs. With her eyes more adjusted, Wylie could see more of the house. The ground was covered with a zigzag patterned carpet, though it was hard to see under the piles of garbage that littered the floor and the stains that dulled its color. The television had a thin crack running across its screen, paintings hanging from the walls were all askew, and the chairs around the dining table were knocked over or broken. 

Wylie heard a noise and turned to see the skeleton coming over with a huge mound of blankets. After wrapping her up in all of them he went off to the kitchen. The house was silent again except there was the occasional sound of pots clanking together or a muffled cough. She almost fell asleep from the warmth of the blanket but before she could the skeleton returned with a glass mug. He carefully handed it to her and slumped into the couch beside her. The whole time he never looked her in the face, always looking away from her.

Wylie looked down at the murky liquid in the cup. She didn’t really know what it was. After a moment the skeleton said, “it’s just tea… and don’t worry… it’s not like I poisoned it or anything.”

She never had tea before, her parents were way more into coffee. She took a sip and despite being bitter it still had a nice taste to it. “Thank you,” Wylie said quietly.

“no problem.”

The frown never left the skeleton's face and with him sitting next to her she could see that there were small, hair-thin cracks that ran across his skull and legs. She wondered if that hurt. He didn’t give any indication if they did or not. There was another moment of silence as Wylie drank the rest of the tea until she broke it again. “Um… excuse me… sir… why did you help me? It seemed like you w-"

“wanted to kill you? i’m not going to lie, i considered it.”

Wylie froze for a moment. “Why didn’t you?”

He sighed. “well, long story short, i made a promise a while back and i still intend to keep it. i don’t believe in breaking promises.”

Wylie didn’t really understand what he meant by that and that there was probably more to it, but she didn’t say anything else on the matter.

The skeleton gave a small laugh and looked over to her. “what’s with the ‘sir’ anyway? just call me sans, sans the skeleton. you got a name?”

“Wylie.”

“well wylie you can stay here until you feel better, but after that you’ll have to leave.”

He said the last part a little more sternly. She just nodded. 

“alright you should probably get some rest now, i’ll leave you be.” He got up from the couch and began to climb the steps.

“Thank you, Sans.”

Sans paused, then resumed his climb, not saying anything else as he disappeared to the next floor. Wylie was concerned of what would happen to her, but she was so tired that she didn’t need to be told twice. Wylie let her eyes close and she fell asleep.


	6. You Can Never Let Go Of The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wylie gets some flashbacks. Some of them are not her own.

Wylie woke up to find herself in a sea of darkness. She stood up and no matter which way she turned all she could see was an endless void. Terrified and not really sure what to do, she picked a direction and started walking. She knew that this had to be a dream. Or a nightmare.

After what felt like hours she heard a sound. It was very faint, but with how deathly silent the void was she could make it out. Someone was crying.

Without any hesitation, Wylie began to run in the direction of the sound. She was surprised by what she saw.

In front of her was a monster, nothing like she had seen before. They looked like something between a goat and a lion with soft, white fur. They had long fluffy ears and wore a striped sweater, similar to the ones at the house in the ruins. They were hunched over and had their paws covering their face. They seemed to be about the same age as Wylie.

“Hey! Are you ok? What’s wrong?” Wylie asked quietly as she stepped over to the monster and kneeled beside them. She gently laid a hand on their shoulder.

Suddenly the monster child shoved Wylie away from them and stood up to face them. What she saw was almost too gruesome to describe. The child had huge, bleeding slashes spread across their front. When they opened their mouth black sludge, much like the void, seeped out. They had two golden flowers covering where their eyes would be.

“ _How could you do this to me?_ ”

Wylie struggled to find the right words to say, unable to tear her eyes away. “W-what do you mean? We h-have never seen each other before…”

“ _How could you do this to me?_ ” They repeated.

“I told you... I don-”

“ _HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!_ The monster screamed, more of the void spilling from their mouth. “ _WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE REVENGE OVER YOUR OWN FAMILY?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE HAPPY! WAS IT ALL A LIE?! DID YOU EVER CARE ABOUT ANY US!? MOM, DAD, Me… you’re own brother...”_ He stopped screaming and now just seemed worn out.

“ _I should have never trusted you._ ” He continued bitterly. “ _Without you… I’d still be alive. They would still be alive. I guess… we never were friends to begin with… Chara._

_Chara?_

Wylie was frozen by the monster’s rage and didn’t understand. She wouldn’t even get the chance. She looked down to see that her feet were slowly starting to sink into the floor. Panic overtook her and she struggled to free herself. She couldn’t escape.

The void was at her waist now and in a last desperate attempt she reached over towards the monster with a pleading look in her eyes. “Please! Please, Asriel!” 

_How do I know his name?_

Asriel had a scowl across his face. _I wish you never came to the Underground_. He turned away and vanished into the darkness.

Tears slid down Wylie’s face now, though she didn’t know why. She once again fell into darkness.

.......................

When she opened her eyes again she was no longer in the dreary void, but in a house. There was something familiar about it, yet she couldn’t quite place why. She was sitting on a bright green couch and across from her there was a very old television set. To the left there was a staircase and to the right a kitchen and dining table. That’s when it hit her. 

_I’m in Sans’ house!_

She could see now that she was, in fact, in the same house. Everything in the house seemed brand new, like someone just moved in. It also had a slightly brighter atmosphere, although, there was still something hanging over it, a sadness.

Wylie tried to stand up only to realize that she couldn’t. She couldn’t even move her head.

_What’s going on?_

She tried to see what was wrong and then she saw that she wasn’t herself. She was a lot taller and she wore long black dress pants and a grey, turtleneck sweater. She even had both arms! Another thing that she noticed too was that her hands appeared to blur and she couldn’t really make out what they looked like.

Her train of thought were suddenly interrupted when her head jerked up at a small tapping noise. A really small monster was walking over to her with a blanket over his shoulders and head. It was a skeleton monster.

“DADDY?” The small skeleton said. His voice was very shrill and yet small at the same time, like He were trying to whisper but couldn’t lower their voice any further. 

“PAPyRus? WhAT aRe you DOING OuT oF BeD? IT’s Way TOO Late for YOu.”

Whoever she was, his voice was definitely strange. It was hard to understand. She also noticed her hands moving around. _Maybe he speaks sign language?_

“I-I HAD A N-NIGHTMARE…”

“COme HeRE.” The voice replied gently.

The little skeleton shuffled his way over to her and she bent down to pick up the child and set him on her lap.

“do YOu WanT tO TALK abOUt It?”

The child looked down, unsure about the idea.

“Y-YOU WERE THERE… AND ME AND SANS…”

_Sans?!_

“AND… SANS… HE… HE…”

The little skeleton could not hold back the tears that poured from his eye sockets.

Wylie’s hand moved to the child’s face and wiped away the tears with her thumb.

“YOU haD The DReaM of HIM falling AGaIn diDn’T You?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“EvERYThinG Will bE OK PApy. sans haS Been SICk manY tiMES beFORe tHIS aND HAs bEEn PerFECtly fINE.”

“I KNOW BUT THIS TIME SEEMS BAD…”

“i KnoW PaPy, But I PRomiSEd YoU BOTh ThaT I Would ALWAYS prOTect You. No MAttER whAT, I’Ll make sure HE geTS tHRough IT. ok?

“OK…, DADDY?”

“YeS PAPYRUS?”

“I LOVE YOU!”

Wylie felt her face smile. 

“I lOVe You tOo.”

The scenery around her shifted and now she seemed to be in some kind of cave. The air around her felt hot and when she looked down she saw why. She was on a thin metal walkway and below her was a pit of lava. Huge metal pipes ran into the lava below and every once in awhile a spark of light would shoot across the surface.

She could tell she was the same person as before, although now she wore a long white lab coat.She felt like she had a terrible migraine. 

To her left there was a strange looking machine. It looked like some kind of pod that a person could fit inside. Lights were flashing all along the machine and a screen on the side read, “Ready to activate.”

She heard a clanking sound to her right and her body turned towards the sound. There, walking across the walk, was Sans. 

Sans, despite being a skeleton, seemed to have a younger look to him. He didn’t have any cracks on his skull and his eyes glowed more brightly. Just like Wylie, he wore a lab coat, although his was a little wrinkled.

There was something that this Sans had that was the same as the other. He looked very upset, a deep frown across his teeth.

He stopped just in front of Wylie and looked up into her eyes. “so the preparations are done then?” Sans asked.

“YeS. THE CAlCulAtiOnS YOu anD ThaT LiZARd maDE SeeM TO haVE PAyeD oFf.” The tone of the voice was completely different from the last vision, blank, cold.

“her _name_ is alphys.”

“YEs, YeS! WhATEvEr! It WOn’T MaTTer OncE We TrAVel BacK before Any of THIS MEss.”

“i think you mean when _you_ go back. i’m not coming with you doc.”

“WhaT DO yOu meAN SanS? WE HAVE SPENT _YEARS_ ON THIS RESEARCH! DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND?!” The voice started to shout.

“of course i care! but this is not right! if we do this everyone in this timeline is going to die! _THIS IS GENOCIDE DAD!_

The loudness of Sans’ voice shocked Wylie and it seemed to do the same to the voice too.

“i’m sorry dad, but i am going to have to stop you right now. you have become just as twisted as the humans you claim to despise. goodbye _doc_.”

Suddenly all of the light vanished from the room and everything seemed to turn black in white. Sans left eye began to flash violently between cyan and yellow. A high pitch whine began to sound out around them. Above his head was the most terrifying thing Wylie had ever seen. A giant, dog-like skull was floating above him. The skull opened its maw to show a beam of charging light. She heard another similar sound and noticed that she too had a skull above her charging a similar beam. Both released the energy, blinding Wylie in a bright light.

Everything was dark again.

And, once again she heard crying.

“I’M SO sORry SanS PapyRUs… I waSN’t Strong EnouGH.”

.......................

Wylie woke up a third time as something shook her. She opened up her eyes to see that she was in the back seat of her parent’s car. Dad was driving and having a conversation with Mom who was in the passenger seat. They were talking about how great their camping trip on Mt. Ebott was and how they were lucky that the weather only turned sour after they started heading home, back to the city.

Wylie looked over to the right to see her older brother, Will, in the middle seat. He was dozing off with his earbuds in, the music so loud that she could hear it was hard rock. How he was ever able to sleep like that she would never know. There was also her younger sister, Wendy, sitting by the opposite window. She seemed to be upset about something, but it was hard for Wylie to tell since Wendy was only two years old. It was probably because of the heavy rain outside that seemed to be trying to shoot the window with bullets of water. The wind was blowing to the point that it seemed to be trying to push their car back up the mountain. The car would occasionally glow as lightning lit up the air around them.

Wylie suddenly realized what was happening.

She started to panic and tears began to pour down her face. This is when _that_ happened.

“Are you okay sweetie?”

Wylie looked up at the sound of Mom’s voice. The mother had a deep look of worry on her features. Will woke up from his light sleep and was also looking at Wylie with a similar expression.

“W-we have to get out of here!” Wylie exclaimed. 

“Wylie there is nothing to worry about! It’s just some stupid rain.” Will replied.

“We are on our way home right now,” Dad added. “We’ll be out of the forest and back on the road home in just a few more minutes. After that it’s a straight ride back to the city.”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” Wylie screamed. “We have to stop the car now!”

“ _Wylie_ do _not_ scream in the car! I know that the rain may seem scary, but it rains like this all the time here. There is nothing to worry about.” Dad was looking at her in the rearview mirror with a sympathetic smile. Taking his view away from the road. 

And that is when _it_ happened.

A figure moved out from the shadow of the trees. When this had happened, Wylie had never actually seen what the figure actually was. But for some reason she could see _exactly_ what it was. 

A small child, around the age that she is now had stepped out into the road. They had short brown hair with bangs that almost covered their eyes. They wore a striped sweater that had splotches of red that covered the sweater’s pinks and blues. In their hand, they carried a small kitchen knife.

The car began to swerve violently from side to side as Dad slammed on the brakes. The tires slid in the mud. Mom was in full panic, Will was in shock, and Wendy started to wail. There was nothing they could do.

Wylie felt the dreaded impact of the car hitting the figure. The last thing she saw of them was a flash of red where their eyes should be.

The car tumbled of the road and down the steep hillside until it hit the bottom with a sickening crash.

.......................

When Wylie finally woke for real she was sobbing. She curled in on herself and held her legs to her chest. She didn’t know how to explain what just happened, but this was the most scared she had ever been in her entire life. She had nightmares before, but nothing like this. And why did she dream of other people she didn’t even know? She desperately wished for her family. She knew that wouldn’t happen though.

Suddenly she felt pressure on her shoulder and looked up to see Sans with a concerned expression on his face. She jumped at first, expecting to see that giant skull again.

“you alright there kid? you started mumbling in your sleep.”

Wylie just continued to cry and curled up on herself even further. Sans sighed and sat down on the couch next to her. He was silent for a moment then said, “i get it… i have nightmares too…”

She looked over to him a little surprised. He wanted to kill her a few hours ago. Now he was trying to make her feel better? 

“do ya want to talk about it? it helps sometimes.”

She shook her head.

“well... do you think you can fall asleep again?”

Again, she shook her head.

“well… i think i know what will help.”

He stood up and walked over to an old pile of trash and pulled out a remote. He sat back next to her and turned on the television.

For the next few hours the two of them just sat and watched re-runs of a show that Sans said had been the most popular in the Underground at one point. Every episode featured the same robot as the main character, Mettaton. The show had way too much drama which made it funny and enjoyable to watch. She even laughed out loud a few times. 

Eventually, Wylie fell asleep again into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Those Puns Deserve a Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another monster makes an appearance.

Not much happened after that first night. The next day, Wylie woke up to find that Sans was gone. She found a note on the coffee table that he would be out and that he left food in the kitchen for her. She then just sat in the nest of blankets watching the same TV program as the night before. The same thing happened over the next few days. She would see when Sans left early in the morning and then wait till he came back late at night, or at least what Wylie could tell was night. It was hard to tell without a sun and that the storm outside was still going strong. She didn’t know if Sans was avoiding her or if he had something important to do. Maybe a little bit of both. Wylie was still a little nervous around Sans anyway, but it was rough not being able to talk to anyone.

Chara still had not responded. This is what really set Wylie on edge. Bad thoughts would go through her head that maybe something terrible had happened to them or that maybe Chara had tricked Wylie and just wanted to let the monsters hurt her. She pushed these thoughts aside, remembering how she had promised Chara to help and that they had mentioned that they may lose connection with each other at times.

On the fifth morning, Wylie pretended to sleep as Sans quietly shuffled by her. She heard him cough quietly as he opened the door and walked out. The minute the door closed behind him she jumped up and started to get to work. If Sans did not trust her, the least she could do was help clean his house for letting her stay there. Also the fact that she was sick of sitting around and not doing anything when someone was counting on her. After digging around in the kitchen, she managed to find some garbage bags and a dusty broom. _Perfect!_

She went around the living room putting trash and clothes into separate piles and carefully picked up some of the broken glass into the bags, using a large oven mitt for protection. She put all the chairs that were still in one piece back up around the table. She was still too small to really move any of the furniture and she didn’t really know how to clean the carpet but after a few hours she had picked up most of the mess. It also didn’t help that she only had one arm to do all of this, making it take her twice as long as it should have. She had been happy, however, to find a joke book under the couch. She would have to read it later.

As she had worked though she noticed some things that started bringing up questions in her mind. Sans didn’t seem like someone who would be very social, yet there seemed to be a few signs that someone else had lived here too.

The main thing that she notices was a sock lying by the television set. She almost picked it up until she saw the long line of post-its that climbed up the wall against it. On the post-its were two completely different types of handwriting. One was written in all lowercase and had smooth, simple letters, probably Sans. The other was written in all uppercase, as if the writer was trying to shout through their writing. The lines of their lettering was also a little shaky, as if a younger kid was writing it. The louder person was continuously arguing with Sans to pick up his sock. Wylie couldn’t help laughing at how Sans responded with a simple “ok” every single time, making the other person more and more flustered until it seemed they had completely given up on the endeavor of making Sans pick it up. After seeing this, Wylie decided to leave the sock be and just worry about the rest of the room. Maybe she would be able to ask Sans about it when he got back.

Wylie was just about to finish the last bit of the mess when she heard a quiet knock at the door. With the sound she froze. _Who is it? What if someone was going to break in? What if the other person was coming back?_

She started to frantically look around for hiding spot, coming up short. Another set of quiet knocks hit the door. _Maybe Sans just got locked out._

She pushed one of the chairs from the table over to the door and climbed up to look through the peephole set it it. She gasped in wonder. Outside was another monster, except it was so different from Sans and the ghosts. It was a person made of fire!

The monster had a very human-like shape but flames coated where their skin would be. They were wearing a long, thick coat that went down to their knees and flapped in the strong winds. They also wore slacks and dress shoes. Wylie found it odd that they also had a pair of glasses set on their face. _Did the fire person even have eyes?_ They probably did.

Wylie startled as the monster went to knock on the door a third time. She then noticed how the flames appeared to change colors slightly. The golden color of his orange flames shifted into upsetting reds, as if the monster was trying to frown.

A puff of smoke came from the monster’s mouth in a sigh. After another moment they set a bag they had been holding on the ground. They then tugged their coat around themself more tightly and staggered back into the storm, light from their flames vanishing from view.

Wylie waited a few moments for the monster completely disappear before opening the door and taking the bag before the snow would blow inside. She shivered from the air and carried the bag over to the table. Whatever was in it smelled amazing. It reminded her of when her and her family would go to the Burger Queen restaurant by her school or when her dad would cook. She opened to find two plastic containers. In one there were two cheeseburgers and the other was filled to the brim with french fries. 

She had not had any food like that in a long time, even when she had been on the surface. She felt her stomach growl longingly and was tempted to steal a fry until she noticed the small, sealed envelope between the containers. She picked it up to see “Sans” scrawled messily across the front. She quickly put everything back the way it was and went back to take her spot back on the couch. The last thing she wanted was for Sans to catch her snooping and throw her back outside. So, she spent the rest of the day watching Mettaton re-runs.

It was about another few hours to come back and Wylie was about to doze off when she heard the door click closed.

“w-what? what is-”

“Surprise!” Wylie cheered, poking her head over the top of the couch from where she sat.

“did you do this?” he asked. The look on his face was of pure astonishment and it made Wylie laugh. His eye lights were darting around the room as if he couldn’t believe it was real.

“I wanted to give you a present for helping me.”

“i don’t really know what to say… thank you…” He actually gave a smile. It was the first time he had seemed genuinely happy about something.

Wylie grinned back, feeling accomplished. He walked around the room, observing her work until he sees the paper bag on the table. “what’s this?”

“A monster left it for you. They came to the door and left after a while. They also seemed a little sad.”

Sans opened it and the instant he did the smile slipped away again. He pulled out the letter and began to read it. A frown was slowly coming across his face again. _That happy moment didn't last long._

After a moment he sighed and shoved the letter into his jacket pocket. “was it a fire monster?” he asked quietly.

“Y-yeah…”

He sighed again, rubbing his eye sockets with his fingers. “before you ask, his name is grillby. he owns the restaurant down the street that i used to go to often and we became pretty close friends. a few years back i stopped going. he pretends to be nice, but i think he's still pissed that i haven't payed back my tab yet.” He gives a dark chuckle.

“anyway… he did leave extra food if you want to split it.”

Wylie perked up at that and happily agreed. Though, she was not as excited as she thought. She had finally gotten him to smile. _I'll just have to try harder next time! He is hiding something again. There was obviously something he was avoiding talking about…but what? Maybe Grillby is involved in this somehow._ Wylie decided that she should find someway to talk to Grillby. He might have the information she wanted to know.

The two of them ate together in silence. She had stared at Sans for a while wondering how the heck he was able to eat without a stomach, another question to ask about. She then looked down to her own burger and took a bite. She was shocked by how good it tasted. Wylie hadn't had a burger this amazing since when her dad had used to grill every Friday. The fries were also fresh and salted to perfection. A tear slid down her face as she zoned out and quickly wiped it away, hoping that Sans did not see it.

“you alright?”

 _Darn it!_

“It’s nothing!” she replies quickly. “This tastes amazing!”

“heh, grillby is known across the underground for his cooking. we always wondered why he didn't open a fancier restaurant in new home or something, he would definitely make more gold if he did.”

Sans took out a ketchup bottle Wylie hadn't noticed before and slathered everything on this plate in a thick layer of it. Wylie’s face scrunched up at the sight. Sans saw it and gave her a strange look. “what?”

Wylie started laughing and pointed to his plate. He caught on and gave a small chuckle. “hey, don’t judge me! i can eat how i want.” he said in jokingly hurt voice. They both laughed at that and the small smile returned to his face as they finished eating. 

Sans excused himself from the table and he smiled. “thank you again for doing this.” He gestures to the room. 

“ _Tibia_ honest, it was no problem at all.”

Sans just stares at Wylie as if he hadn't heard her right. That was not the reaction she was expecting. Maybe the other person who was here was the one who owned the joke book. Maybe she should try another.

“Aww… I thought that joke was _punny_! That one should have at least tickled your _funny bone_ a little bit! Well, I still have a skele _ton_ more if you want to here them.” 

Sans face was completely blank, devoid of emotion. Wylie realized that she might have just insulted him in some way. She desperately tried to form an apology until she noticed that a wide grin spread across his face, he started laughing so hard that she swore she saw tears his eye sockets. When he finally started to calm down he sputtered, “th-that was amazing! i haven't heard jokes like that in a while.”

Once he gained back his composure he says in a very teacher-like manner, “your jokes were pretty _rib_ -tickling, but _tibia_ honest you need more practice. to be the pun master you need to come up with jokes on the _fry_ , maybe later we can _ketchup_.”

Now they were both giggling messes. Wylie had never been so happy in a long time. She was finally able to make someone smile.


	8. More Than a Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen and Wylie looks for answers.

A few more days passed and Wylie felt like she was becoming more and more useless. Sans would usually leave the house and stay in his room, despite the fact that Wylie was trying so hard to get him to open up. It seemed that the more she tried, the more closed off he became. She really wanted to keep Chara’s promise and help everyone, but how could she do that if she couldn’t even help Sans? She started to wonder if that day she had gotten him to laugh had been a fluke. At least he hadn’t kicked her out yet, despite the fact that she was better.

To add a cherry on top of everything, she still had heard absolutely no word from Chara. She tried communicating with them multiple times and came up with nothing. This continued to add boredom and loneliness to the child’s mind. There was no way she would be able to travel through the Underground without a guide of some sort helping her. She didn’t even have a clue on how she would be able to help everyone.

_No. I promised Chara I would help and there is no way I should be thinking like this right now. There must be something I can do._

Wylie’s train of thought vanished when she heard the front door swing open and slam into the wall. She fell from the couch with a squeak and became tangled in the pile of blankets she had been sitting in. She looked over to see Sans in the doorway. His eye lights were completely gone and he seemed to be shaking from exertion. He coughed loudly into his gloved hand before he quickly tucked it away into his pocket.

“Sans? Are you ok? What’s-”

Before Wylie could finish he quickly moved across the room and took her arm, extracting her from the blanket pile. Without a word he began to drag her towards the front door. _Is this it? Is he kicking me out?_

Wylie felt tears begin to form until she realized that he continued walking past the threshold of the door, rather than just throwing her out into the snow. He took her around the side of the house to the back where there was a strange metal door hidden by the large pine trees surrounding the house. 

“Where are you taking-”

Sans shushed her and let go of her arm to grab a key from his pocket. His hand shook a moment, but he managed to get the door open. He then gently pushed her into the room and shut the door behind them.

The minute the door was closed Sans visibly relaxed. He still seemed extremely tired and although his eye lights finally returned, they were a lot more faint than usual. He took a moment to catch his breath, despite the fact of not having lungs, and when his eyes finally focused on her and he let out a ragged sigh. He must have seen the confused and concerned look on her face. “i suppose i should tell you what’s going on.”

Wylie just nodded and waited for him to continue.

“somehow the entire underground now knows that another human has fallen down here.” His perpetual smile turned down into a small frown. “did any other monster happen to see you before i did?”

“I don’t think so... Oh... I may or may not have run into a ghost while I was in the ruins…” Wylie grimaced as she remembered about the ghost that mentioned finding others. _Oops…_

Sans sighed again, his frown deepening. “that would be nabstablook… welp if you weren’t in danger before, you definitely are now.”

“What do you mean?”

“well, with the other _thing_ that fell down before you, let’s just say that some monsters want vengeance for what happened.”

_Now what should I do? Saving the monsters just became a hundred times more difficult now that they all want to kill me._

“What should we do now?”

Sans looked away from her face. “well now that monsters know that you came through the ruins, the first place they're going to check is snowdin. because of this, you’ll probably have to hide here until they pass through.”

“Ok, but what is this place?”

He flipped a switch on the wall and a dull light illuminated the room. Wylie could see that the room was relatively small with a workbench, chair, couch, and a mysterious object covered in a tarp in the farthest corner. The couch was even older and more worn than the one in his living room, he obviously spent a lot of time in here. Wylie walked over the workbench to see pages of old blueprints. The writing was mostly Sans’ bubbly writing or illegible symbols that she couldn’t make any sense of. 

“this is my old lab where i did various forms of research. it should make a good hiding place, since no one else knows it exists.”

“You were a scientist! That’s cool! What did you research about?” Wylie was shocked. Sans didn’t really seem like the kind of person to be interested in stuff like that.

Sans seemed a little surprised by her outburst, his eye sockets widening. He quickly looked away and scratched the back of his neck nervously. “it’s not really important. it was kinda dangerous stuff and i realized that it wasn’t worth it anymore... which leads me to my next point… the only thing i ask is that you stay away from the machine in the corner over there. it is extremely dangerous and i _really_ don’t want any other accidents to happen.”

_Other accidents!_

Sans saw the look of fear on her face when he lets the words slipped and mentally criticized himself for scaring the kid. “look, just… don’t touch it and you’ll be fine.” He tried to smile, but failed horribly at looking confident.

Wylie nodded anyway, shoving her nervousness to the side for now. “How long do you think it will be for the monsters to leave Snowdin?”

“probably no more than a few days. i’ll keep checking on you and give you updates. i’ll also be staying in the house in case they come by. i’m sure that they would not hesitate to knock the door down if no one is here. if you hear _anything_ stay hidden and don’t make a sound. i’ll do everything i can do deter them.”

Sans looked over to the door. “i should go… i’ll come back in a little while.”

He turned to leave. “Wait!” 

Sans jumped at the shout. “what?” He said it with a tinge of annoyance as if knowing what she was going to say next. Wylie continued anyway.

“Why are you helping me? I know you said you made a promise, but wouldn’t the others be angry if they found out?”

He looked her directly in the eyes with an unnerving glare. “listen kid, all i’m gonna say on the matter is that i have never had many people i could call family. the few people who i loved always believed in finding the best in everyone and that anyone could be a good person… even humans.”

He opened the door and stepped through the threshold out into the snow again. Before closing it he turned to look at Wylie again, his eye lights gone. “to turn my back on you now… it would be an insult to their memory.” With that, the door closed with a soft click.

…..

At that point, Wylie wasn’t sure what she should do next. It seems that it was confirmed that the family she had dreamed about might have been his actual family and that something terrible happened to them. _Did he actually attack his father like my dream as well? Would he do that? The father seemed so nice to the other skeleton child._ She wanted to know more and to see if this ‘other human’ was involved with it some way, but she knew that Sans would definitely avoid talking about them at all costs. So, she did what any other curious child would do in this situation, she decided to snoop around his lab. _He didn’t say anything about touching his other stuff._

She started to shuffle through the blueprints and was met with much of the same scribbles and symbols. There were also various diagrams for parts of a machine. The word ‘anomaly’ appeared multiple times in Sans writing, but she really couldn’t make sense as to what he was referring to. At the very bottom of the stack of papers was something that made her shiver. They were outlines for the giant skull. This page was completely covered in the symbols again except for the very top which read, “Gaster Blasters”. _Maybe these have something to do with the dangerous lab work he had been talking about._ Not being able to deduce anything else from these papers she pushed them aside and decided to start digging through the drawers.

After a few minutes of searching, the drawers revealed nothing new. They were all filled to the brim with notebooks of scientific diagrams and theories. She expected to see the same for the last drawer, but when she opened it she found only two things, a badge and a book. She picked up the badge first to see that it was some sort of I.D. card. It had headshot picture of Sans and around the picture the same symbols appeared again. She set the card onto the desktop and slid the book out onto it as well. 

The cover was extremely worn as if it had been open and read way too many times and the binding seemed to be hanging on by a thread. She carefully peeled it open and saw the last thing she would have expected, pictures. The entire book was a photo album. She began to flip through the pages and saw Sans and various other monsters. He actually looked happy.

Towards the end of the book she noticed that many pictures seemed to be missing and occasionally an entire page would be ripped out. _Why would Sans pull them out?_

By the very end, she noticed two things. One, there was not a single picture of any other skeleton. _Did he actually have a brother and father or was my dream not real? Wouldn’t he have family photos if he did? Are they the photos that are missing?_ Second, there was one photo of Sans lying on a beach with a regal-looking goat monster sitting next to him while they were watching a few indistinguishable people playing in the water. The sun was shining over them. 

Wylie’s initial thought was that maybe Sans had been on the surface before the war thousands of years ago and that maybe monsters just take a long time to age. The thought was quickly shut down as they were both wearing modern bathing suits and the goat monster had a cellphone held in her paw. Now having more questions than answers, Wylie slapped the book closed. Wylie gasped as one of the pictures shot out from the wind and fluttered to the ground by her feet. She bent over to pick it up and froze. 

At first it seemed like any ordinary group photograph. Sans was at the center and was surrounded by various types of monsters and all of them were wearing white lab coats. But what drew her attention was the monster standing behind them with a hand resting on Sans shoulder. It was an extremely tall skeleton monster with large cracks running from their right eye to the top of his head and from his left eye down to their mouth. The biggest thing was that his hand had a giant hole in the palm. 

_Could this be the father from the dream?_

Suddenly a pain spread through her head that was strong enough to get her to drop to her knees. She gasped and grabbed at her hair with her hand. In the back of her mind it sounded as though someone was calling out, but the pain in her head was drowning out her thoughts. After what felt like hours she heard one name through the chatter, and with it she knew what to do. 

When the pounding finally disappeared Wylie pushed herself to her feet and tucked the photograph and Sans’ I.D. card into her pocket. She knew that Sans would be furious if he found out what she was going to do, but something deep down told her that this is exactly what she needed to do and that doing this would be the first step to helping not only Sans, but all the other monsters as well. If Sans wasn’t going to allow her to help him after he saved her life than she would try to find the one other person who might know anything about what happened to Sans, and that person would be Grillby.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my first fanfics so please give me suggestions on how to improve!
> 
> If you are interested in seeing some artwork for this AU you can find it at my DeviantArt page: https://lunarwinglatias.deviantart.com/gallery/61809942/The-Ninth-Human


End file.
